Tank heater



July 22 1924. 1,502,008

TTTTTTTT ER Filed April 13 1922 Patented July 22, 1924.

warren s'rarss isaaaas FRED A. BAGLEY, Olli CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA.

TANK HEATER.

Application filed April 13, 1922. Serial No. 552,336.

7 '0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRED A. BAGLEY, a citizen of the United States,residing at Cedar Rapids, in the county of Linn and State of Iowa, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Tank Heaters; and I dohereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact descriptionof the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to whichit appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to heaters used for keeping stock drinking tanksfree of ice in cold weather, and comprises certain improvements in suchheaters, and more par ticularly those using solid fuel.

The nature of the improvements will be fully disclosed in thedescription and claim following, reference being had to the'accompanyingdrawing, in which Fig. 1 is a section in the line 1-1 of Fig. 2, of atank heater embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same,with the cover removed. Fig. 3 is a similar view showing a modified formof the heater adapted for the burning of long wood.

Referring to Figs. 1 and 2, which represent a coal-burning heater, thenumeral 5 denotes a circular receptacle provided with a water-tightbottom 6. In practice the receptacle is formed of sheet steel, taperedsomewhat from top to bottom, so that in the event of being frozen in theice it lifts, instead of being crushed by the pressgre. This shell ofsteel is welded at its joint and to the bottom, which is of cast iron,and suitably shouldered at 6 The bottom is comparatively thick andheavy, and serves as ballast to hold the heater in its proper uprightposition in the water, in which it is designed to float. To furtherstabilize it in this floating position, it is provided with lateralbuoys 7, which are air-tight cylinders attached to a band 8 en; circlingthe receptacle. To the upper edge of the receptacle are welded lugs 9,on which rests the cover 10, giving an air-space between for draft. Thecover, which is considerably larger in diameter than the receptacle, hasan annular depending flange 10 to protect the contents of the receptacleagainst rain and snow. At the middle it fits neatly around the smokeflue 11, the lower portion of which, 11, fits on the upturned centralportion of the grate 12. This, as shown in Fig. 2 has a radial grid, andrests on brackets 13 welded to the inside of the receptacle at asuitable distance above the bottom to-form an ash-- pan, and allow forthe passage of air, and the products of combustion, as indicated by thearrows in Fig. 1.

The same principles are involved in the modified form shown in Fig. 8,but in this case the shape is long and rectangular, so that stove-wood,or even longer lengths may be burned, instead of coal.

The operation of the device will be readily understood. The cover beingremoved, fire is kindled on the grate, and when well under waysuflicient fuel is added to insure combustion, but at a slow rate, for aday or so. The .draft,- as will be evi dent, passes from top to bottomof the fuel bed, and out through the central flue, combustion beingcomplete and economical. This is continued from day to day, until theash-pan may need emptying, when the cover, flue and grate are easilyremoved, and the ash-pan cleared of ashes.

It will be evident that the heat will be diffused near the surface ofthe water in which the heater floats. The effect is toclear such surfaceof ice, and without wasting fuel in heating the water to anyconsiderable depth, the only real necessity being to give access towater instead of ice.

By this arrangement of a central flue and a surrounding grate the heatis mostly disposed at the outside of the fire-pot and next to the waterand ice, with resulting economyand efficiency.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

In a heating device for tanks having a centrally apertured marginalgrate carried by a supporting receptacle and provided with an upwardlyand inwardly inclined annular flange surrounding said aperture, a fluecarried by the grate andarranged centrally of the receptacle, the wallof the supported end of the flue being uniformly,

downwardly and outwardly flared and adapted to be seated upon theannular flange surrounding the aperture in the grate In testimonywhereof I affix my signa- Whereby to form a fire box above the gratetnre 1n presence of two wltnesses. having a gradually decreasing Widthfrom the top of the receptacle t0 the grate, and FRED A. BAGLEY. a fluepassage having a gradually decreas- Witnesses:

ing diameter from the grate t0 the top of F. W. ARMSTRONG,

the receptacle. D. L. VVOOD.

